Top Four Finish For Lowes In Race One

Alex Lowes (bimota by Kawasaki Racing Team) took a fourth place finish in the opening WorldSBK race at Misano, shortly after his team-mate Axel Bassani had secured a season-best front row start in Superpole Qualifying.

Saturday’s action at Misano began with a third free practice session and then a Superpole Qualifying contest that witnessed particularly strong performances from Axel, Alex and the bimota KB998 Rimini. In terms of pure lap times Axel was third fastest and Alex fifth.

After the quickest Superpole rider Nicolo Bulega had been penalised and dropped to the second row for riding slowly on the racing line, both bimota riders were moved up one grid position - Axel to second and Alex to fourth.

The first race of the Misano WorldSBK weekend, held over 21-laps, saw Bassani make a good start and sit in second place on lap one. He would fall at T6 one lap later and was unable to restart his damaged machine.

Lowes went from fifth place on lap one to third place on lap two. He would remain there for three laps in all, until he was passed by eventual podium finisher, Danilo Petrucci. Alex tried to re-pass his rival near the end of what was a hot and humid race, but could not quite make his attempted pass stick.

On the final run to the line with Petrucci, Alex would finish just 0.140 seconds from what could have been a first BbKRT podium finish.

A ten lap Superpole race and then a final full distance Race Two will round out the race action at Misano on Sunday 15 June.

Alex Lowes stated: “That fourth place equals my best race result on the bimota KB998 Rimini. Superpole was good but the lap times are so tight now. I did my best lap time by myself and I was very happy with that because it is faster than I have been round here before. You are just happy to be on the first couple of rows as it is easy to be 13th on the grid - and if you are 13th on the grid the race is completely different. This was a good race for us because the bike feels good in the heat. The second half of the race was really good but I just couldn’t pass. I thought I was faster than Danilo in certain parts of the track, but I just couldn’t find way past. I enjoyed the race today and I think we can improve a little bit for tomorrow. I am happy.”

Axel Bassani stated: “We have to feel positive because FP3 was good, Superpole was much better than usual and we started from the first row. That is not easy now given the level of WorldSBK. In general the day was positive. I don’t know why but in T6 I lost the front really, really quick. A strange crash so we will check the data. I was quite calm, pushing but not too much, as I was trying to find my pace. In general I am feeling good, I just want to understand why I crashed because at the moment I don’t know.”